Escola de Verão – The Middle East and North Africa today: crises, mobilities and paths to the future

The recent events in North Africa and Middle East have produced an impact that has widely transcended the local or regional scale, unveiling other historical fault-lines in the Mediterranean and beyond. This makes the comprehension of the ongoing processes of paramount importance for a deeper understanding of how the problems faced by the societies of the area represent common challenges for a shared future. Nonetheless, most analysis have been carried out under perspectives that emphasize the political and geostrategic stakes for Europe and the Global North, leaving aside the experience of people and their effort to survive and build a better future. Indeed, while the undisputed leading role of the citizens was widely acknowledged in the first phase of the revolt, it quick lost preeminence after the reorganization of the authoritarian regimes, which took again the center stage.